Content deleted Content added
Willis Cass (talk | contribs) m Image URL changed |
Willis Cass (talk | contribs) Photos added |
||
Line 37:
== Early Life ==
[[File:Soderstrom Family Portrait.jpg|left|thumb|The Soderstrom family, 1904. Standing (from left): Paul, Reuben, and Lafe. Seated: John, Olga, and Anna.]]
Reuben Soderstrom was born on March 10, 1888, on a small farm west of [[Waverly, Minnesota]]. He was the second of six children born to John Frederick Soderstrom and Anna Gustafava Erikson, immigrants from [[Småland|Småland, Sweden]], and [[Jämtland|Jämtland, Sweden]], respectively. John, a [[Free church|Free Church]] preacher and cobbler by trade, attempted to become a farmer. He leveraged the family’s assets in 1886 to purchase land, seed and equipment. His efforts met with failure, and within ten years the Soderstrom family was mired in debt.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=http://www.reubengsoderstromfoundation.com/downloads/Olga.pdf|title=Reuben G. Soderstrom|last=Hodgson|first=Olga|publisher=|year=1974|isbn=|___location=Kankakee, IL|pages=3-5}}</ref>
Line 47:
== Political Career ==
[[File:Reuben Soderstrom and FDR.jpg|left|thumb|300x300px|Reuben Soderstrom stumping for Vice Presidential Candidate Franklin Roosevelt in Mendota, IL, 1920]]
Soderstrom joined Streator ITU Local 328 and soon became a fixture in the city’s labor movement. In 1910, he was elected to his Local’s Executive Committee, and was nominated as a delegate to the city’s Trades and Labor Council. In 1912, he was elected President of both his Local and the Streator Trades and Labor Council. After retiring from the Presidency in 1920 he become the Labor Council’s Reading Clerk, a position he held until 1936.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.fortygavels.com/|title=Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO|last=Soderstrom|first=Carl|last2=Soderstrom|first2=Robert|last3=Stevens|first3=Chris|last4=Burt|first4=Andrew|publisher=CWS Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-0998257532|volume=1|___location=Peoria IL|pages=105}}</ref>
Line 59:
== Presidency ==
[[File:Reuben Soderstrom Portrait.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Reuben Soderstrom, circa 1930]]
=== Miners' Crisis ===
Line 65:
With no clear successor, the ISFL Executive Committee approached the 42-year-old Soderstrom, hoping his political acumen could help stabilize the crisis. He accepted, and was named interim president, pending a formal vote.<ref>Soderstrom, Reuben. [http://www.reubengsoderstromfoundation.com/downloads/Reuben_Interview.pdf Interview by Milton Derber]. Transcript, May 23, 1958. University of Illinois Archives. p. 17.</ref> Soderstrom acted decisively against the PMA (despite his friendship with Walker), refusing to seat them at the 1930 ISFL Convention. The move marginalized the PMA and helped stabilize the UMWA at a critical moment.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Labor Convention Bars Insurgent Miner Delegates|last=|first=|date=September 16, 1930|work=Alton Evening Telegraph|access-date=}}</ref> Soderstrom was formally elected ISFL President soon thereafter.
=== The Great Depression ===
Just as the miners’ crisis began to abate, a larger threat emerged: The Great Depression. By 1933, one out of every four laborers were idle.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Great Depression of the 1930s: Lessons for Today|last=Crafts|first=Nicholas|last2=Fearon|first2=Peterr|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=|___location=Oxford|pages=75, 330}}</ref> Reuben combated the crisis with a mix of legislation, agitation, and recruitment. He fought for relief legislation, including unemployment insurance and a shorter work week, declaring every laborer had a “right to work which must not be taken away.”<ref>{{Cite book|title=Proceedings of the 1936 Illinois State Federation of Labor Convention|last=|first=|publisher=Illinois State Federation of Labor|year=1936|isbn=|___location=Chicago, IL|pages=22}}</ref> He strengthened union efforts on the ground, traveling across Illinois to give support to strikes and organizing efforts.<ref>Soderstrom, Reuben Soderstrom. [http://www.reubengsoderstromfoundation.com/downloads/Reuben_Interview.pdf Interview by Milton Derber]. Transcript, May 23, 1958, University of Illinois Archives. p. 34.</ref> He also ran a relentless recruitment campaign, focusing not only on unorganized workers, but on established unions not previously affiliated with the ISFL.<ref>Soderstrom, Reuben. “Essay: The Federation Is Growing,” August 1952. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.</ref> As a result, Soderstrom saw his membership surge despite the Great Depression and the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO), a rival organization to Reuben’s American Federation of Labor (AFL).<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Illinois Labor Federation Head Defends His Work|last=|first=|date=August 7, 1941|work=Freeport Journal-Standard|access-date=}}</ref>
Line 72 ⟶ 70:
=== World War II ===
During World War II, Soderstrom took the lead in helping to organize the home front. He joined and helped enforce organized labor's no-strike pledge within defense industries.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The A. F. of L.: From the Death of Gompers to the Merger|last=Taft|first=Phillip|publisher=Harper & Brothers|year=1959|isbn=|___location=New York, NY|pages=219-220}}</ref> Illinois became a seat of the nation’s wartime manufacturing, producing more than 246,845 planes, 75,000 tanks, 56,696 Navy vessels, 15,454,714 firearms, and over 37,000,000,000 rounds of ammunition.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Our Production Miracle is Told|last=|first=|date=March 10, 1945|work=Illinois State Federation of Labor Weekly News Letter|access-date=}}</ref> Reuben helped oversee these efforts as a member of the War Production Board, the War Manpower Commission, and Illinois State Planning Commission. He placed special emphasis on worker safety, pushing back hard against overwork in the legislature and as a member of the Illinois Health and Safety Committee and the Advisory Committee for Industrial Safety. He raised money for the war, promoting War Bonds and serving on the Federal War Savings Committee. Near the war's end, he helped shape post-war planning efforts as a member of the AFL’s Peace and Postwar Problems Committee.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.fortygavels.com/|title=Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO|last=Soderstrom|first=Carl|last2=Soderstrom|first2=Robert|last3=Stevens|first3=Chris|last4=Burt|first4=Andrew|publisher=CWS Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-0998257532|volume=2|___location=Peoria IL|pages=295}}</ref>
[[File:Reuben Soderstrom with Lyndon Johnson.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Reuben Soderstrom leads President Johnson to the stage at the 1964 Illinois AFL-CIO Convention]]
After the War, Soderstrom advanced labor interests in Illinois at a time when anti-labor sentiment was rising nationwide. He passed pro-labor legislation including affordable housing, increased workmen's compensation and unemployment benefits, as well as the founding of a Labor Institute at the University of Illinois. He also thwarted repeated attempts to pass the model "right to work" legislation that swept through 16 other states. This was accomplished in part through an organized effort to curb strikes within the state and a new political alliance with onetime opponent Governor Green (who was considering running for the Republican Presidential nomination).<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.fortygavels.com|title=Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO|last=Soderstrom|first=Carl|last2=Soderstrom|first2=Robert|last3=Stevens|first3=Chris|last4=Burt|first4=Andrew|publisher=CWS Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-0998257532|volume=2|___location=Peoria, IL|pages=291, 310, 24, 322}}</ref>
Line 80 ⟶ 78:
=== Civil Rights ===
[[File:Reuben Soderstrom MLK 1965.jpg|left|thumb|300x300px|Reuben Soderstrom pinning a medallion on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the 1965 Illinois AFL-CIO Convention]]
In the Civil Rights era, Reuben worked to bring equality into the workplace. He supported the Illinois Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) Act and other legislative efforts to end discrimination.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Fair Employment Passage Bolstered In Springfield|last=Kramp|first=Larry|date=April 11, 1961|work=Freeport Journal-Standard|access-date=}}</ref> He strongly supported Jewish rights at home and efforts to organize in the nascent nation of Israel, for which he was formally honored by the [[Jewish Labor Committee]] in 1953.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Jewish Labor Unit to Honor Soderstrom|last=|first=|date=March 8, 1953|work=Chicago Daily Tribune|access-date=}}</ref> When the [[Martin Luther King Jr.|Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]], led a Rally for Civil Rights in Chicago in 1964, Reuben served as an Honorary Chairman, welcoming him to Illinois.<ref>Miller, Jay. “Letter to Reuben Soderstrom,” June 18, 1964. [[Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum|Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]].</ref> After the event, Reuben personally invited Dr. King to come and deliver the keynote address at the Illinois AFL-CIO Convention, which he did the following year.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Address of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=|first=|date=December 4, 1965|work=Illinois AFL-CIO News Letter|access-date=}}</ref> Multiple Civil Rights leaders spoke before the Illinois AFL-CIO at Reuben’s request, including Dr. King' successor, the [[Ralph Abernathy|Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Address of Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy|last=|first=|date=December 14, 1963|work=Illinois AFL-CIO Weekly News Letter|access-date=}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Address of the Hon. Corneal Davis|last=|first=|date=January 4, 1964|work=Illinois AFL-CIO Weekly News Letter|access-date=}}</ref>
== Family ==
[[File:Reuben and Carl Jr.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Reuben Soderstrom with his grandson, Carl Soderstrom Jr.]]
Soderstrom was the primary provider for his family since childhood and continued to care for his mother until her passing in 1959.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Reuben G. Soderstrom|last=Hodgson|first=Olga|publisher=|year=1974|isbn=|___location=Kankakee, IL|pages=13}}</ref> He was close to his siblings, especially his sister Olga and brothers Paul and Lafe (whose own career in labor politics was cut short when he was killed by a drunk driver in Chicago in 1940). He married Jeanne Shaw in 1912, and together they had two children — Carl and Rose Jeanne. Carl followed in his father’s footsteps, winning the Illinois House seat his father had held in 1950. His daughter Jeanne was a teacher and counselor at Streator High School. In 1941, Reuben’s son Carl Soderstrom married Streator native Virginia Merriner. The pair had five children: Carl Jr., Virginia Jeanne, Robert, Jane, and William Reuben.
Line 90 ⟶ 89:
== Death and Legacy ==
On September 12, 1970, Soderstrom was named President Emeritus of the Illinois AFL-CIO.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Proceedings of the 1970 Illinois AFL-CIO Convention|last=|first=|publisher=Illinois AFL-CIO|year=1970|isbn=|___location=Chicago, IL|pages=228}}</ref> He died three months later on December 15, 1970, in his hometown of Streator, Illinois, at the age of 82.<ref name="select.nytimes.com">[https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10712FC3F551B7493C4A81789D95F448785F9 "Reuben Soderstrom, Illinois Union Head," ''New York Times'', New York, December 16, 1970, p.50]</ref>
=== ''Forty Gavels'' Biography ===
[[File:Forty Gavels Series.jpg|left|thumb|381x381px|''Forty Gavels'', the three-volume biography of Reuben Soderstrom]]
Soderstrom's authoritative, three-volume biography ''[http://www.fortygavels.com Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO]'' was released on February 28, 2018. Named after the ceremonial gavels Soderstrom received at the annual state labor conventions, ''Forty Gavels'' spans a century of history and examines its subject in documented, year-by-year detail. The biography also features more than 2,250 photos and images from several historical archives. ''Forty Gavels'' was written by Carl W. Soderstrom, Robert W. Soderstrom, Chris M. Stevens, and Andrew W. Burt, with graphic design by Kevin Evans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fortygavels.com|title=Forty Gavels: The Life of Reuben Soderstrom and the Illinois AFL-CIO|last=|first=|date=|website=Forty Gavels|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=May 11, 2018}}</ref>
=== Reuben G. Soderstrom Plaza ===
[[File:Reuben Soderstrom Statue.jpg|thumb|Reuben G. Soderstrom statue in Streator, IL]]
[http://www.reubengsoderstromfoundation.com/tributes-plaza.html The Reuben G. Soderstrom Plaza] was dedicated in Streator, Illinois on September 2, 2012. The date, officially proclaimed “Reuben Soderstrom Day” by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, featured a day-long celebration and Labor Day Parade in which Soderstrom was posthumously honored as Grand Marshall.<ref>Quinn, Pat. Illinois Governor’s Proclamation. Signed August 16, 2016.</ref> The Plaza features a bronze statue of Soderstrom by Peoria sculptor Lonnie Stewart, and is adorned by [http://www.reubengsoderstromfoundation.com/downloads/rgs_quotes.pdf 12 plaques] containing selected quotes from Soderstrom. The plaza was built through labor donated by David Raikes and the men and women of Laborers’ Local #393, Bricklayers #6 and #21, Electricians #176, Plumbers #130, Operating Engineers #150, Cement Masons #11 and the Illinois Valley Building Trades. Landscaping was provided by Jeff Berfeld.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.reubengsoderstromfoundation.com/tributes-plaza.html|title=Statue Dedication: Streator Celebrates “Reuben G. Soderstrom Day” In Illinois|last=|first=|date=|website=Reuben G. Soderstrom Foundation|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=May 11, 2018}}</ref>
| |||